The present invention relates in general to screened enclosures, and more particularly, to a screen enclosure apparatus for use in association with windows, porches, doors, and sun rooms among other things, and primarily for use in geographical areas prone to high wind and/or hurricane conditions, wherein the apparatus is capable of controlled release of the spline and screen sheet material which are secured to the frames of an associated structure.
For many years, industry has manufactured screen enclosures for use in place of glass window panes, and the like, so as to enable fresh air to enter in and out of a house, porch, shed, sun room or other building structure. Although such enclosures have proven adequate in many situations, few, if any of the prior art enclosures are designed to avoid damage, when excessive wind pressures, such as the high wind pressures prevalent in hurricane prone environments, are exerted upon the outer face of the screen itself. Typically, when such high winds occur, the forces associated therewith exert substantial force on the screen sheets, notwithstanding their porosity, to stretch and/or tear the screens or worse yet, transfer substantial forces from a high strength screen and spline structure that do not yield to the frames between which the screens are suspended.
Inasmuch as many of the screen frames used today are constructed from aluminum, and specifically, extruded aluminum, one of the most contemplated methods for use in designing such frames to meet wind load requirements in high wind prone areas, has been to increase the wall thickness of the aluminum frames themselves. Although such a method has proven successful, in that damage to a reinforced, more costly frame is greatly reduced upon exertion of such high winds, it still fails to alleviate stretching, or other damage which may still result to the screen sheet, or costlier structural distortion to the frame. However, an even greater concern inures to the impact such a product has on the ultimate consumer. Specifically, increasing the wall thickness of the frame requires an increase in structural material, which, thereby, increases the overall cost of the product. Accordingly, this increase in cost is then reflected in the price charged to the contractors, as well as consumers--all of which result in residential, as well as some commercial, building construction being needlessly more expensive than it already is.
Yet additional problems have also presented themselves with the use of prior art screen enclosures. Specifically, prior art "non-pop-out" spline structures, i.e. splines which maintain the screen in place until the spline is manually withdrawn and pulled from position in the frame, and which are currently used in areas such as those prone to high wind conditions, are extremely non-responsive to wind pressure on the screen, and extremely prone to the initiation and proliferation of filiform corrosion (a form of corrosion which occurs in spline groves, or channels, of painted or anodized aluminum extrusions when exposed to salt found in the air near coastal areas). Accordingly, as such corrosion forms, the ability of any spline to actually release from the groove, or channel is severly hindered--due to adhesive fouling from the substantial contact between the spline itself and the corrosive products in the channel.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a screen enclosure apparatus which facilitates the passage, or venting, of air between the channel of the frame structure and the spline itself, so as to minimize contact therebetween, as well as to reduce the likelihood of the formation of filiform corrosion within the channel--while giving way, elastically or frangibly, to the exertion of wind pressure against the screen.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a screen enclosure apparatus which utilizes an extruded aluminum frame having a relatively thinner wall thickness than otherwise required to withstand such wind pressures--thereby decreasing the amount of material necessary to manufacture the frame, and accordingly, keeping the overall material costs of construction to the consumer to a minimum.
It is still further an object of the invention to provide a screen enclosure apparatus which has a displaceable or frangible spline, wherein such displacement or fracture occurs upon exertion of a predetermined amount of wind pressure on the front surface of the screen sheet of the apparatus.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a screen enclosure apparatus wherein the release of at least a portion of the screen from its frame occurs by deformation or breakage of the spline itself--without reliance upon failure of the actual screen materials which often vary beyond predictability--often only after frame damage has occurred.
It is yet an additional object of the invention to provide a screen enclosure apparatus which facilitates only partial displacement of the spline, and accordingly only partial removal of the screen itself, from the frame, upon exertion of a predetermined amount of wind pressure, so as to enable ease in reinsertion and reuse of an undamaged, screen, frame and spline structure.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent in light of the present Specification and Drawings.